


if you could return (don't let it burn)

by timkon



Series: torn from each other's hearts [1]
Category: You Could Make a Life Series - Taylor Fitzpatrick
Genre: Alternate Universe - IT (King) Fusion, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Horror, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Non-Chronological, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, YCMAL Holiday Exchange 2019, no IT characters appear I want to clarify lmao, typical to IT canon not ycmal canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timkon/pseuds/timkon
Summary: "Why'd you do that?" Melissa asked him."I don't know," Robbie said, but he knew well enough.(In a small Massachusetts town, five middle schoolers defeated an evil, supernatural clown responsible for the deaths of countless children. Fifteen years later, It came back.)
Relationships: Georgie Dineen/Roberto Lombardi, minor Nate/Mason - Relationship
Series: torn from each other's hearts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581694
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. the call (Robbie)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rvd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rvd/gifts).



> Sorry for the carefully crafted web of lies I had to spin so that you didn't guess it was me who had you originally for the exchange, Phoebe! 
> 
> Title from "Linger" by the Cranberries.
> 
> Requested as: "listen if you WANTED to do a ycmal au stephen king's it, you should follow your heart" & prompts 1-6 being exclusively georgie related. I see you, I hear you.

“Hi. Is this Robbie? Robbie Lombardi?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“It’s Elliott Matthews. From Derry?”

Robbie paused. He’d never heard of Derry, but at its mention he felt a pang of aching familiarity. “Derry… Wait, Matthews? Like, Matty Matthews?”

“Yeah!” the voice, Matty, answered. “Man, Robbie, I knew you’d recognize me.”

“Of course, you were my best friend back when we were kids.” Not that Robbie remembered him until the moment he began speaking. As he spoke though, he knew it was the truth.

“Except for Georgie,” Matty said with a short laugh. It was rehearsed and light-hearted the way he said it, like he’d made that joke a million times before to Robbie. Maybe he had. Fuck, he’s gonna have to apologize so hard for forgetting Matty existed and not keeping in touch.

“Who’s Georgie?” Robbie asked.

There was only static on the other end of the phone for five long seconds before Matty cleared his throat. “We can, um, talk about that later. I have something I need to tell you first. It’s important.”

“You’re gonna have to expand on what kind of ‘important’ you mean here, Matty. Like terminal disease important or making it into the big leagues important?”

“ _It_ is back. We thought we killed It, but we hit the fifteen year mark and people are dying again just like last time.”

Robbie was immediately plunged into five different memories at once. They all blurred into each other but in one moment, he saw a group of teens riding bikes in a nondescript neighborhood; a wide smile with a crooked top row; a missing poster for a young girl stapled haphazardly over another missing poster on a school bulletin board; an abandoned house creaking across a road; and the sound of a piercing scream as a clown worse than any nightmare rushed towards him.

“Robbie? You still there?”

“I’m here,” he croaked out. “What the fuck? You can’t just call a guy after over a decade and suddenly bombard him with all this. I didn’t even remember you ten minutes ago but now I have to relive my fucked-up childhood? That’s a shitty move.”

“You promised, Robbie. We all took a _blood oath_ that if It returned, we’d all come back and defeat It for good. You owe everyone that much.”

“I don’t owe anyone shit!” Robbie yelled. He knew he was panicking; he could feel his heartbeat picking up even though there was no threat in front of him and rationally knowing he could hang up at any point. But he was too shaken to move his arm from where his phone was pressed to his ear. “You know exactly what that town was like and how no one gave a shit about how fucked up it all was. I wouldn’t go back for a high school reunion, let alone to kill a homicidal clown. I could’ve died trying to save those other kids the first time around, I’m not risking my life again for that. I’m sorry, it’s too much.”

“Robbie!” Matty yelled. It was so startling to hear it coming from him that Robbie quietened to let him speak, though if asked he couldn’t have explained what about Matty yelling was so off-putting.

“Robbie,” he repeated. Robbie heard him take a shaky breath on the other end of the line before he started up again. “I know you don’t remember much about Derry or what happened; everyone else I spoke to has been pretty fuzzy as well. But I nearly died trying to save you. I _would_ have died to save you—and all the other Losers, if you guys had left me to bleed out like I begged you in the sewers.”

Robbie, wracked with guilt, said, “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to do that for me, Matty.”

Matty sighed. “I know, Robbie. That doesn’t change that you need to come to Derry tomorrow with everyone else. _I_ need you to come.”

Silence.

Robbie took a second to consider it, but in the moment he realized he never really had a choice in the first place. An oath’s an oath and he was always going to end up back in Derry.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll be there for you, Matty.”


	2. the incident (Dicky)

“GEORGIE! DICKY! Help!” 

Richard Dineen ran faster than he thought was possible towards the sound of screams. His sneakers ripped across the gravel of the road ahead of him as he willed himself to go faster,  _ just run faster Richard, your brother’s in trouble and he never ever shouts so this has to be big. Will can’t be far. _

As he approached the corner where Thyme Street met Capital Court, he could make out the small shape of Will in his bright yellow raincoat on the ground by the sewer drain. Will was thrashing from side to side and one of his legs seemed to be caught in the drain while the other was pulled up close to his chest. He was shouting, sobbing things that Richard could barely understand even as he got closer.

“WILL!” Richard shouted and he made one final sprint. “I'm here, Will! Just hold on. Please!”

Will wouldn’t tear his eyes away from the drain and didn’t seem to even hear Richard as he writhed. Richard collapsed onto the ground on the street next to Will’s torso and grabbed his arms to tug him up. He managed to drag Will up a couple inches before he glanced at the drain and saw a pair of red eyes and what seemed like a hundred horrifying, glinting teeth inside a mouth open wider than he thought was humanly possible. For a few seconds, he was frozen in fear as his eyes were locked on whatever… monster was inside. Then the eyes appeared to get larger and closer to the and Will whimpered loud enough to snap Richard out of the trance. He squeezed his eyes shut and dragged Will the rest of the way out of the sewer, probably scraping his legs badly as he hurried to move Will as quickly as possible.

When he felt they were a safe distance away, he opened his eyes and refocused on the sewer. The eyes were only tiny dots now, but _It_ was smiling now. It opened its mouth and Richard swore he heard It say, “Tell Georgie I said hello,” before It vanished right in front of him. 

He finally let himself look down at Will, who was much quieter than before and he was staring at Richard with wide eyes.

“Dicky… help me,” Will begged, but was stuttering so much through tears that Richard could only guess his words. There was blood everywhere, he noticed then. Blood stained that bright yellow coat and coated his entire right leg with spatters on his left leg. It looked like his whole leg under his knee was gone, ripped off or something horrible. Richard clasped a hand to his mouth to stop himself from gagging and felt something wet on his hand. He hadn't realized he'd started crying.

Richard took a deep breath, his exhales were coming out shaky as his pulse refused to calm down. Then, with one last burst of energy, he scooped Will into his arms - so small, too small to have that much blood pouring out of him - and carried him to the closest neighbor to call for help.

**Author's Note:**

> You kept tweeting about a hypothetical au in the days immediately following getting matches confirmed for this exchange and for that added stress you must atone - BUT I hope you enjoyed these snippets! I tried to combine various IT canons, your own personal thoughts, and well-loved tropes to create this monster. 
> 
> To everyone else that read this very niche, personally crafted fic: thank you from the bottom of my heart! Several quotes (only a few) are lifted or remixed from Stephen King's IT and I'll have them all listed in the final end note of the series to avoid crowding here.


End file.
